MrExcalibur100

Just because the top teams in the PL are now pretty average doesn't mean the league as a whole is poor, there are 20 teams in the division. The Premier League is still the deepest league in the world in terms of talent top to bottom. It's way more evenly spread out than any other league in the world. The league is probably the deepest its ever been. Another thing is the average premier league team is very different from the average La Liga or Serie A team for example. In terms of physicality, directness of play, intensity. I can expand on that, but I'm sure you get the point. All these factors favour the lesser teams, who though lacking in quality, can more than compensate for their short-comings by more "robust" and physical means, means which are allowed to happen in English football because of the way the game is reffed. Case in point being Stoke City. A Stoke City simply won't be allowed to exist in any other big league in Europe. These are all big factors that don't occur to some people. It's what makes the PL the hardest league in the world to compete in and arguably the hardest to win. So of COURSE, it will be amazing if we won it this year! Don't let any rival fan or clueless Chelsea hating pseudo-journalist convince us otherwise.

Another thing is this. I hope the FA and the Premier League are proud of their work watching this. With their clandestine manipulations at the top of the league table, using their hand-picked referees to influence the outcome of games. We saw it last season with Liverpool and we've seen it this season worse than ever with us. They've weakened the Premier League in their bid to make it "tight" at the top, to market their product as the "best league in the world" . They've merely suceeded in making it a laughing stock in Europe. Right now, the Spanish League is much better. Much better. What made the PL great 7-10 years ago was US. It was Roman Abramovich. Through his finances, when he made us the dominant team in England, Man United had to spend and work harder to reach our level. That dominance made them stronger and it had a rob on effect on other clubs like Liverpool and eventually a trickle-down effect on the rest of the top 10 teams to get their act together. The FA and PL don't want a dominant team BUT it's exactly that dominant team that will make the EPL the best league in the world again. Gary Neville had a great article on this on The Telegraph. (P.S : what the hell is wrong with the editing on this forum and the notification bell?)

I remember saying in the "Champions league knock-out draw" thread that Monaco will give Arsenal a very difficult time but some people, mostly the ones that don't watch a lot of European football were saying otherwise and even criticizing me. Even despite the loss of Rodriguez and Falcao, Monaco still have a lot of good, young, strong and technical players.

Kompany again showing why he's such an overrated donkey.

I've been pre-occupied with a lot of stuff as of late, so I only just got to watch the full match replay of this game. One thing I immediately noticed was how mind-numbingly quiet the crowd was. Was like a grave-yard. WTF was that about? The atmosphere clearly had a negative effect on the players' performance. Seriously our home fans need to get their shit together once in a while. Our players needed them and they didn't seem bothered.

A little too early for this thread, but I'll say it's been: (1) Hazard (What else can I say about this guy? One man attacking force and has become brutally consistent this season, even more so than last season. The best player in the league and one of the top 5 in the world. Simply unplayable at times. I've noticed he's improved his off the ball movement a lot which is good. Next season, I'll like to see him add more dimension to his game. i.e improve his shooting and taking more shots have to be top of his bucket list. I don't believe he can improve on the things he's already strong at.) (2) Matic (Rolls-Royce at the centre of the pitch. Not only the best DM in the world by a fairly big distance, but one of the top 10 players in world football. No complaints. Very good in the big games.) (3) Fabregas (Amazing amount of assists in just his first season with us! He alongside Matic in the middle have really transformed the way we control matches. He'll be higher if he actually turned up vs the big teams!! I just can't believe how poor he's in them sometimes. He almost seems nervous in these games. He's much better than that.) (4) Costa (This guy is a straight up animal. I won't swap him for any striker in the world, given his age and the way his style suits us. I can't believe so many people were doubting when we signed him. I even read one post here from someone who wanted us to sign Balotelli instead. He can still improve though. He tends to put in too many average performances for my liking when there is little space between the lines but still manages to invariably score. Seems more comfortable away from home where there is more space between the lines for him to exploit.) (5) Courtois (Perfect transition into the English game. I thought he'll have similar problems to De Gea in his first season here. The way he commands his penalty box and deals with aerial crosses with that immense size of his is what gives him a higher ceiling than Petr Cech. Brilliant shot-stopper obviously, the man can catch a bullet. He's also shown a side of his game I was unfamiliar with. The way he rushes off his line. We've seen that a lot this season.) Hon mention to Brana. He's been easily our best defender this season.

We're just a better attacking team when a natural fullback is playing his natural role. I don't give a damn how good Azpi apparently is in one-on-one's. Incredibly underused by Mourinho. I'll never understand why.

Oh, I certainly do agree. Without mincing words.... I'm just not convinced about him, sorry to say. We will win the league this season, we have the best squad (thanks to Mourinho and to Emenalo), he will instill a winning mentality in the squad, hopefully, but in the long term, it's not sustainable for the group of players we have and for the image of the club. Roman won't let it happen. There's a reason Mourinho was not even his 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice at the time. The sideshows and the brand of football especially. For another decade? I doubt it. It will be like his 1st spell here.

There's no point saying anything about Fabregas' performance in this game.The same way there's nothing to say about any one of our attacking players. Courtois was always going to be the MOTM. Pele, Maradona or Messi won't have made any difference for Chelsea tonight. ABSOLUTELY no difference. I'll reserve judgement for the reverse fixture.

before the game : PSG will see a different Chelsea from last season. after the game : 5 of my players didn't train. And of course, some people still naively buy it. Why wait till your side has been categorically outclassed in every facet of football till you then go on and contradict yourself later? That was the most lopsided 1-1 I've seen in a very long time. More like 5-1. And also, how many times this season have we averaged 1 or 0 shots on target in a match? 4? 5? That's unheard of at Chelsea.

Nothing new here, Jose going to Jose vs big games and of course the latest excuse (or lie) is "5 players didn't train" to cover for his team's non-footballing performance. Mourinho's one trick pony tactics being exposed again vs a big team who we can't easily beat with just quality alone. He and his marketing team have done a (very) good job branding him as this tactical mastermind when that couldn't be further from the truth. The myth of him being a tactical genius is simply that, a myth. He's very good in defensive organisation and improving players mentally, but he's very weak in the technical aspect of football. He's achieved a lot on those qualities so far in his career, but I'm not surprised he's struggled to put impose his managerial ethos on that Madrid team and to us. We have regressed so much technically from 4-5 years ago, despite having better players now, so much so that we can't even build attacks anymore, or a play a passing game with any purpose. Against weaker opposition, he simply tells the players to go out and express themselves, with zero technical input. Hazards said that in an interview the other day, some other players like Robben have said something similar about Mourinho's non-existent "attacking philosophy". When we can't rely on our superior players, we're nothing and barring a miracle, I don't see Mourinho being able to win the CL with these group of players. We literally play the worst football in big games of any big team in Europe. I can't pretend and say I'm not worried about the direction this team is going. Apart from of one or two minor issues, we have all the qualities to be one of the best teams in the world for the next decade at least, but we're never going to fulfill our true potential if we continue to play football like this. That was a disgusting performance. This team is due a hammering, worse than whatever Spurs did to us. That will be a wake up call to Mourinho and to the club. It's not the first time we've gone in at half-time with a positive performance and result and we come out playing like cowards in the 2nd half, scared shitless. Whose fault is that? The players, or the instructions they were given by their manager at half-time? Don't make me laugh. Mourinho seriously needs to humble himself and consider building up his philosophy and approach, specifically the attacking aspect of it. I was expecting him to do it last summer, but it's obvious he hasn't. If he doesn't, the game will leave him behind. We've already the rise of new managers like Simeone who can do everything Mourinho does in terms of defensive organisation and also better it by improving his team technically. Even in the eyes of his deluded followers, how can Jose advertise himself as the best when he continues to do the same things that failed so woefully at Real Madrid? If he's unwilling to develop his tactics in the summer, then I maintain he's not the right manager to take this particular "profile" of squad to the next level, irrespective of whether we win the league or not. That's a competition in which you don't have to beat the best to be the best, instead you beat the teams you're clearly superior to. In the Champions League, there's no place to hide. Vs the strongest teams, there's no place to hide. It's important to give Jose credit here. We aren't losing many of these games, but neither are we winning any and neither are we showing any evolution in our style of play. I maintain that we play this way vs big teams because Mourinho doesn't know any other way how. Don't be deceived by the excuses. Lastly and I'll keep this one short. Jose keeps saying he wants to stay at Chelsea for the next decade. That won't happen if he doesn't evolve tactically and if we continue in this manner in the big games. That's not the way Roman assembled this team to play. "

Branaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ramires = donkey. Can't defend, can't attack, can't pass.

One of our boys needs to hit a long ball in anger. If you don't make risky passes, you can't score.

Very slow passing from us. Azpilicueta is being consistently exposed on that left side. Doesn't know where he is ATM.

Hehe, I see Romelu is back at it again. Hilarious.

Why not? He has all the tools to be as good as Desailly was for us. What's really caught my eye about Zouma is his pace and he's also more agile than I thought he was.

Winning the league won't stop Ashton or Redknapp from rubbishing Mourinho though. These people are obsessed with him. Anytime I listen to the Sunday supplement, it's always Ashton saying : Mourinho this, Mourinho that. Same with Redknapp. 90% of the chelsea related articles he writes are about Mourinho.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Further proof that this Neil Ashton character is mentally challenged. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2440066/ASH-WEDNESDAY-Jose-Mourinho-like-just-Chelsea-manager-passing-through.html This is only about 2 months into Mourinho's second spell in charge. It's particularly enlightening the way he writes as if he's privy to information about Chelsea that no one else is. And then there's this from a couple of months earlier. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2281167/Jose-Mourinho-replace-Arsene-Wenger-Arsenal--Neil-Ashton.html What a weirdo.

He's a gormless bastard on par with wind-up merchants like Adrian Durham. The DM moderators have also started deleting comments calling out Ashton. The Daily Mail editors have no shame for giving that clown a platform to publish such nonsense.

I think this sort of game might be too soon for Zouma. It's bigger than City and Liverpool. But who knows, Mourinho is known for throwing young players in the deep end. Personally, I'll start Cahill.

While, I can't really go as in-depth as the brilliant Supporter has done, I'm not Spanish and my understanding of the language is pretty rudimentary, there is a pretty good movie on Youtube that explains Mourinho's tumultuous relationship with the press in Spain. It's long, but it's pretty interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XEQX2lSbW0

hehe.

Great video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzpu3ZrjrZo And a very entertaining interview to boot: http://sport-magazine.co.uk/

Neil Ashton should be banned from ever attending press conferences at Stamford Bridge again. He should be given the same treatment Sir Alex used to dish out. Even by his wretched standards, this is hard to believe! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2951468/Jose-Mourinho-got-rivals-game-s-rulers-run-s-time-stop-madness.html?offset=0&max=100&jumpTo=comment-76810946#comment-76810946 Seriously, our club need to take action against this particular individual with a well known hatred of our club and our manager. I almost feel ashamed posting this trash, but it's for the benefit of others who won't see it.